Case Number 15246

Hot Rod (Blu-Ray)

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All Rise...

Judge Clark Douglas could totally do tons of awesome stunts. If he wanted to. Which he doesn't.

Editor's Note

Our review of Hot Rod, published November
27th, 2007, is also available.

The Charge

Smack destiny in the face.

Opening Statement

"Life is pain. We've got to scrape the joy from it every chance we
get."

Facts of the Case

Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg, Saturday Night Live) wants nothing more than
to be a stuntman. He practices very hard, every single day. He has a team of
cohorts (Bill Hader, Jorma Taccone, Danny McBride) who help him train. The only
problem is, Rod is perhaps the world's worst stuntman. He is absolutely awful at
everything he attempts in the stunt department, and his incompetent friends
don't help any. Still, every time Rod attempts a stunt, he believes quite
sincerely that he is going to make it. Stunts aren't the only thing Rod has
trouble with. He also continually loses fights…yes, physical
fights…with his step-father Frank (Ian McShane, Deadwood). He
explains to his friend, "Fathers automatically love you. Step-fathers, you
have to earn their love. He won't love and respect me until I beat him in a
fight." So, every week, Rod and Frank go down to the basement and fight,
and every week, Frank beats Rod to a pulp. Rod's mother (Sissy Spacek, Three
Women) doesn't seem to think a thing of this, and simply shrugs such
behavior off.

One day, Rod learns that Frank is very ill. He needs a heart transplant, but
the family's insurance won't pay for it. So, Frank will probably die soon, and
Rod will never have had the chance to beat his step-father in a fair fight. Rod
determines to raise the money to get Frank the heart transplant so that he can
attempt to beat him to death. This sort of amusing half-logic runs through all
of Hot Rod, which is an incredibly stupid movie. However, unlike many
stupid movies, it doesn't rely on tired old clichés to fill out the
storyline.

The Evidence

There comes a time in the career of every Saturday Night Live
performer in which that performer must attempt to make the leap to feature
films. Sometimes an actor will go on to great fame and fortune (Eddie Murphy,
Bill Murray) while others sink faster than you can say "Chris Kattan."
Hot Rod is the first attempt to shoot SNL member Andy Samberg to stardom.
Samberg has a unique role on the show, providing original "digital
shorts" each week. The most famous of these is undoubtedly the music video
"D—-- in a Box," co-starring Samberg and Justin Timberlake as
guys with interesting Christmas gift ideas. So is Hot Rod good enough to
give Samberg a career outside of SNL, or should he hang on to his Saturday night
job as tight as possible? Though this ranks among the minor SNL flicks (of which
there are oh-so-many), I think it's entertaining enough to be worth a look.
Samberg's man-child act offers a sweeter, more appealing variation of the sort
of thing Will Ferrell has been overdoing the past few years. He's not an
entirely original comedic voice, but he has quite an appealing presence
nonetheless.

Everyone else in the cast seems to be having a genuinely good time. McShane,
far, far away from his fantastic turn as Al Swearingen in Deadwood, is an
absolute riot in his silly role. He plays Frank as a man who is happy to be
dying, simply because it means he will go out undefeated in his basement
battles. Will Arnett (30 Rock) portrays yet another over-the-top jerk,
and Isla Fisher (Wedding
Crashers) is Rod's charming girlfriend. Spacek simply plays her role
straight; probably a good idea. Hader, Taccone, and McBride all manage to create
unique and memorable supporting characters in a limited amount of screen
time.

For every moment of groan-worthy stupidity, there's another of rather
inspired silliness. Hot Rod takes clichés and overworks them so hard
that they are no longer recognizable as clichés. Sure, there are the
obligatory moments of physical violence that befall Rod in his stunts, but
there's also a lot of enjoyable stuff here. The inspirational crowd scene that
turns into bizarre chaos. The battle between the grilled cheese sandwich and the
taco. The amusing meditation on the phrase "cool beans." The
discussion of AM radio by a popular DJ, and the strange tattoo that accompanies
his thoughts. It might not hold up as classic comedy, but you will laugh,
because the humor comes at you sideways instead of smacking you in the face.
Hot Rod is one of the better completely brainless comedies in recent
memory.

The hi-def transfer is reasonably solid. This is a very bright film
visually, and a few sequences here are particularly vibrant. Flesh tones are
accurate, and the image is almost completely blemish-free. On the negative side,
the image is often very soft, which slightly obscures facial and background
detail. Blacks could also stand to be a little deeper. Hot Rod isn't a
film that really demands a knockout transfer, which is a good thing, because
this one falls a little short of that mark. Audio is a bit uneven at times.
Dialogue and sound design tend to be pretty low-key, while the soundtrack (a
blend of amusing original score from Trevor Rabin and a pile of very cheesy '80s
songs) occasionally gets very aggressive. Everything is crisp and clean, but you
might want to keep the remote handy.

The DVD supplements are repeated here. The most notable supplement here is a
commentary with director Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and co-star Jorma
Taccone. A very lightweight outing, as you might expect, but very engaging
listening. These guys are fun to hang out with. The usual suspects are on hand:
a gag reel, some deleted and extended scenes, a theatrical trailer, and an
8-minute behind-the-scenes featurette. We learn that Dane Cook and Will Ferrell
each passed on the film before Samberg was selected. The film is all the better
for that, most assuredly. You also get some nudity from the cast, which is
certainly unexpected. Elsewhere, we get footage of the orchestra recording
session, a history lesson on punch-dancing and extended versions of some of the
videos featured in the film. A reasonable batch overall.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

Hot Rod, like the vast majority of comedies that have been given a
Blu-ray release, doesn't quite merit an upgrade. The transfer is solid enough,
but it's hardly a showcase disc. Meanwhile, there's absolutely nothing new in
the extras department…not even a trivia track. Oh well.

Closing Statement

Samberg's appealing little film is not guilty. The Blu-ray release is guilty
of lacking ambition.